


How far we've come

by 3_HarleyQuin_737



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Blood, Bulges and Nooks, Character Death, Childish Games, Cute Ending, Cute Kids, Dysfunctional Family, F/F, F/M, Grubs, Hemophobia, Kid Dancestors, M/M, Multi, Mutants, Revolution, Scared Kankri, Skinning, Tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-05-16 01:40:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 14
Words: 22,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5808349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3_HarleyQuin_737/pseuds/3_HarleyQuin_737
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The revolution had started between the low bloods and the high bloods, many men and women have lost their lives in this battle for freedom including a well loved Lusus. Kankri Vantas and his brother are mutants to the state and have spent most of their life running away from those who seek to destroy them, with no friends and no family but their own they are forced to live in a life of solitude constantly changing from safe house to safe house. However the one fatal mistake that Kankri always makes is that he's alone. All that changes one night when he discovers a group of children of all different bloods and backgrounds, working together to survive in what seems like an apocalyptic world, and for the first time, Kankri feels like he's home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue_Unlikley family

**Author's Note:**

> hello, i was hoping that this would be the prologue to a story i'm writing at the moment but that seems really unlikely, so i'm not making any promises, this is also unedited so don't really pay that much attention to grammar or spelling mistakes, thanks for reading my stuff guys, i really appreciate it, your all sweet.

you could practically hear them, even here in the streets you could hear the cracking walls of a falling empire. the howling moans of the injured and distraught wails of lost children would echo in your ears as you searched in vain for a safe haven, a quiet spot where you could forget where you are, where you could forget all the people that you watched die at your helpless feet. it was his pass time, looking for that one place that seemed to not exist in this world, it was perhaps the only thing that kept him sane, but it seemed not to work as well as it used to, everyone could feel the near end of the king's tyrannical reign, there was a tension all over the country as they waited for those walls of blood and pain to come crashing down before them, it was like the entire nation was holding its breath until the final battle. 

it had been over half a sweep now that that fateful day started, the revolution marked by the signature carved into his back, the mutants sacrifice for the freedom to speak out was the gift that kept on giving. people say that he had died for their sins but they were wrong, only the crowd present at his death would know that, he had died knowing the corruption that poisoned our world, the people that have been raised to that code and follow without question and he was sick of it. he was murdered by all who he had wished to save, he had tried all his life to cure that fowl sickness in everyone's mind with no avail and yet even after his death he had been saving people, giving them something that none of them had dared wish to dream. the gift of voice, finally someone had given them the power that no one thought they would be able to possess and now they stand up in arms, screaming out the death of clown king in gratitude to the mutant. the sufferer. our saviour. 

but it did not end there, highblood fought back, killing thousands even millions of alternians in the queen's name, ruining thousands of lives, only serving to fuel the fires of the rebel army. a leader finally rose among them, they called him the summoner, because he summoned the courage of all those willing to fight for their kin, to take up arms and strike back, even gaining the loyalty of a little known pirate named mindfang, giving them the advantage of the waters as well as land. the battles that followed were blood thirsty, the ground soaked up the blood of every social standing you could think of, the soil painted rainbow with bodies. a great victory banquet was held when they caught wind that, in a flurry of fury, highblood had killed second in command, dualscar, her majestys right hand man, a sign that they were making progress, there efforts were not meant in vain. 

now they wait, the stench of burning bodies made everyone cringe, they were safe for now, waiting for the crack of light over the hills to illuminate their rugged faces and to signify the final battle for freedom had begun, the fear in his body made him shake but he stood unmoving otherwise, watching those still strong enough to fight carrying body after body off the battlefield and thrown into the blaze they had made. he rubbed his tired eyes, not feeling up to sleeping at this time though his vision was starting to fade. he was suddenly jolted forward by a small force behind him, swinging his head around, his eyes rested on a small boy, perhaps only four sweeps old by the look of him, his face was covered in mud and he was panting loudly, the look of terror in his eyes struck the old man to the core. he directed his gaze to the small bundle clutched tightly to his chest, a newborn grub making a small distressed squeaking noise. 

“e-excuse me i did not mean to be rude i was simply-” the boy suddenly stopped, covering his face with the hood of his tattered cloak and hiding as much of the grub as he could, “i am very sorry, may i come through?”. the boy was being far more polite then he should have been but for some reason, it was comforting. stepping to the side he let the little boy jostle through, watching the stranger closely as he weaved through the crowd until he was out of sight. once he could no longer see him the old man went back to watching the soldiers. for some reason his mind could not keep focused on them though, his mind would constantly show him images, it was small and unclear but there was one distinct thing that he could see, a pair of big, terrified, bright red eyes. 

\--------------

kankri ran as fast as his legs would carry him, his lungs burning and his feet shooting pain right throughout his body but he kept moving regardless, that man had seen him and he wasn't taking any chances, not with this grub, not in a million years. there was a large crowd ahead of him that made him stop in his tracks, darting his eyes over to a cutter on the side of the road he ducked under, only just managing to squeeze into the foul smelling pipe lines under the burning city. karkat squeaked in his arms, kankri tried his best to shoosh him, rubbing little circles on the grubs belly until he giggled brightly. the sound made a smile curl on kankris cracked lips, nuzzling his nose to the little child, “thank you karkat, i am very sorry”, the little grub just cooed back, waving its tiny legs around in the air happily, like a little bright light in a world of darkness, it was a silly thing to think but it made kankri that much happier just thinking about it. there were muffled cheers on the surface that made kankri turn his head up to the opening they squeezed through, he could not tell what was happening but it must have been exciting because people were laughing and cheering without a care in the world. his face cringed as he saw the blazing orange streaked hair come into view, it was the summoner, the leader of the rebellion, he was tall from what kankri could see, he had a determined look on his face, stone hard but with a warmth in his eyes that comforted kankri just a little bit. 

he looked down at the little grub again, karkat was trying to wriggle out of his hold, he thought for a moment before placing him on the ground, it would be hard to lose someone who was bright red so he let him crawl around for a little bit, really all he wanted to do was roll over himself and giggle excitedly, smiling down at the little grub. kankri raised himself to his feet, bravely looking out on the street through the crack, there was a small parting of people where he could see the summoner better, his clothes were covered in the blood of his enemies, a tall beautiful woman standing beside him, their hands were clasped together and they were holding them up in victory, the girls one eye sparkling with pride as she looked upon the crowd. while the only way you could describe the summoner was like an orange flame the only way you could describe this woman who kankri assumed to be mindfang was a sharp blue, she wore a pirates hat proudly on her head covering the majority of her messy tangled black locks of hair, curling all over he face, the fangs glinting in the fire light, standing out from her dark grey skin.

kankri raised himself onto his tippy toes, hoping to get a better look but was rudely awakened by another pair of bright orange eyes staring right at him, inches away from his face. he stumbled back and almost fell over, yelping a little behind his hands. the eyes belonged to a little boy, hair spiked up and a little messy above his forehead, tipped with bright orange just like the summoner except the boy was his age, and his face was softer as he looked directly at kankri. he slid under the gutter and edged a little closer toward kankri, making the little cloaked child step back in fear, but the boy just smiled back, holding his hand to his head in a joke salute and bowing ever so slightly, holding his other hand behind his back to show that he meant no harm. “oi oi, no need to be so hasty doll, just curious what someone like ya is doin down here is all”.

kankri blinked back in confusion, he was standing over the grub so that no one else could see him, shifting uncomfortably in his spot while he searched for the words to say. gulping and tugging at the edges of his cloak, looking down at his bare feet awkwardly. “i-i don't know…”. kankri looked up again to see that the boy had come a lot closer, they were the same age but he was a lot taller, towering over kankri by a lot and beaming down at him, his hands at his sides. “wh-who are you..?”, he managed to stammer out, twiddling his fingers nervously as he looked back up into those burning orange eyes. 

the grin on the kids face grew wider, putting a hand on top of kankris head, he winced at the sudden touch, relaxing a little as he ruffled his hair playfully. “the names rufioh, rufioh nitram don't wear it out”, winking down at the little troll, making his cheeks heat up ever so lightly, rufioh noticed the little blush and chuckled a little, wrapping an arm around kankris shoulders. “ya seem like a pretty alright kid right?”, poking kankris cheek a little, “me an some a the other kids are playin a game, wanna join?”.

kankri looked up at the troll in surprise, tilting his head to the side, almost hugging himself at that point, “you want me to play a game with you?”. rufioh nodded, poking his tongue out jokingly.

“nothin death defyin a promise ya that, just wanted to play tag with some mates, ya up for it...ummm….”. scratching the back of his head a little, staring back down at him, “didn't quite catch ya name there champ”.

kankri just stood there in disbelief for a while, before he offered the tall troll a sweet smile, “my name is kankri…”, he thought for a minute if he should tell him his last name or not in case that had been leaked as well, “kankri vantas”. rufioh laughed again, locking arms with him. 

“well kanny does that mean ya in?”

kankri nodded timidly and mumbled something to himself “my name is kankri”, rufioh pulled him to the opening in the wall again, karkat squeaked a little when he saw that kankri was leaving but kankri held a finger to his lips, mouthing the words, “just play here for a while, i will be back shortly”, karkat seemed to understand, hiding himself behind a nearby rock until rufioh and him were out of sight.

rufioh seemed to be really enthusiastic about this, he wasn't giving kankri any time to think as he pulled him into an old house that was perhaps abandoned a while ago. sweeping away a curtain to reveal an old, falling down room, a little cosy for the space but otherwise it was surprisingly comfortable. in the middle of the room there was a small assortment of other children, girls and boys, some were wearing rich cloths and others were wearing simple tattered rags. one of them greeted him at the door, she was small and bouncy, with a mass of tangles black hair that reached all the way to her ankles and a simple torn brown dress, the horns on her head vaguely resembling those of ears and she did not speak, she merely made excited noises as they walked in. there was a dark figure behind her, tall and bony, he did not say anything either, just stared down at kankri like a predator, making kankri shift uncomfortably. rufioh beamed at both of the kids, pulling kankri further into the room and started introducing all of them. 

the girl who greeted them first was named meulin and the boy behind hers name was kurloz, other than them there was a rowdy seadweller in the back named meenah who seemed to be pestering a smaller girl with a book clutched to her chest he later found out her name was aranea. there were was a girl attempting to do a handstand named latula being egged on by a boy next to her named mituna, both of them were being scolded by an even taller girl called porrim who looked a little over dressed for the occasion. another girl attached herself to rufioh, speaking in a foreign language he had never heard of called damara and a rather shy boy whose name was horuss, rufioh had a certain tone of affection when he introduced him. there was one child that caught kankris attention though, he was as tall as rufioh was, his hair was wavy and it looked like it had been swept back in the wind or something like that, staring right back at kankri with curious violet eyes, rufioh said that his name was cronus and he gave him a not so subtle wink. 

“everyone this little cutie's name is kankri” rufioh said, pushing kankri forward into the crowd, making him stumble a little over his feet. he gave a shy little nod, before returning back to hiding behind rufioh. the taller troll chuckled a bit, entangling his fingers with kankris and mouthing a “no need to be scared kanny”,  
kankri simply ducked a little further behind him, mouthing back, “my name is kankri”. 

rufioh nodded at the little boy and looked onto to the other kids, the rowdy girl in the back spoke up, after failing to poke porrim with some sort of fork like instrument, “alright guppies let's get a few thins straight”, she gestured to herself, a wide grin plastered on her face, showing off her sharp teeth, “i'm the leader and don't ya glubbin forget it gotcha? and this here”, pointing to the girl with the book known as aranea, “is my gil-friend, land a finger on her and i'll harpoon ya right through got it?”. the little girl blushed bright blue, trying to hide her face with the book, grumbling something that sounded like, “meenah please”. 

she wasn't listening to say the least, “now y'all better run an hide be-corals i'm gonna come and take ya in my secret lair and well…”, snickering under her breath, “ya don't wanna know what i'll do to ya then”. kankri was easily intimidated, especially by this girl who now that he saw her a little closer, was about a head or two taller than him, he could have sworn that he was the shortest in the group so far, he shrunk a little more behind rufioh, meenah noticed this and smirked at the little boy, leaning down and giving him a stare that sent chills down his spine, turning the whole room into an ice cold dungeon. 

“boo” 

simultaneously everyone scattered straight away, kurloz and meulin linked hands and ran off by themselves down the hallway, aranea shrieked and didn't move, hiding behind her book as if it would protect her. porrim, damara, latula and mituna ran somewhere into the deep depths of the house, giggling and and screaming frantically. rufioh took kankri by the hand and pulled him toward the window, leaping into the air suddenly, stepping up onto the falling down frame and landing onto a nearby tarpe placed conveniently underneath to catch them. kankri stared down in awe of what he had just done but he wasn't allowed to marvel for long, he felt two strong arms snake themselves around his and lift him into the air, cradling him like a princess. he almost screamed, his mind instantly thinking that he was being kidnapped but he looked up, instantly locking eyes with those bright purple orbs again that made his heart almost stop, they were airborne instantly, falling unto the torn blanket closely followed by horuss plonking down next to them. 

rufioh gave them a quick wave before he disappeared into the crowd of people, followed closely by horuss, kankri could have sworn that the little troll was blushing but he didn't get a good enough look, suddenly being dragged into the intertwining dark alleyways, being pushed and prodded until finally he was pushed behind large pile of garbage, a finger was pressed to his lips as cronus motioned for him to stay quiet. they heard footsteps thumping down the alley and two shadows crossed their path, turning there heads around frantically. one of the shadows could most definitely be recognised as meenah, the other was being pulled along behind her, he guessed that it was aranea, that was probably right, they soon left, looking around for more of the kids to find and torture. 

kankri let out a soft sigh, trying to catch his breath, he chanced a glance over at the other troll beside him who was peeking around the corner to see if they were actually gone, he realised that his hood at fell off in the chase and for a moment he thought that his heart had leapt out of his chest, quickly grabbing the hood and tugging it over the nubby little horns practically hidden in the mass of tangled hair. cronus turned around to look at him, his violet eyes roaming around his body, lingering a little too long in certain places, making kankri curl up into a little ball. 

a small smile curled onto the boys face, his fins flapping up and down as he started laughing uncontrollably, holding his side as he doubled over with laughter, it could have been about their narrow escape but somewhere deep down kankri knew that it was about him, his face flushed a sudden bright red and he puffed out his cheeks in frustration, “what's so funny!?”. cronus didn't answer straight away, he was desperately trying to calm himself down from the sudden fit of hysteria that overcame him. at some point he caught his breath, wiping away a tear that had accumulated at the corner of his eye, looking down at the other troll whose face was flushed bright red with anger, almost enough to start up his laughing again.

“its rude to simply just look down at someone that you haven't known for more than perhaps a couple of minutes and start laughing hysterically at them you know, i find it triggering that you wouldn't even stop to think how i feel about being laughed at for something that i am not entirely aware of, in fact laughing at someone generally for their appearance is possibly the rudest thing that you could possibly think to achieve so congratulations if your aim was to completely humiliate me, i can tell that me and you are going to be great friends in the future, obviously being sarcastic and even if i wasn't my aim is not to make friends with anyone so i'm not even sure how that thought had crossed my mind and furthermore-”, cronus held a finger to his lips and made a soft shushing sound, smiling comfortingly at kankri. 

“calm ya farm kanny? was it? breathin is somethin ya need to do right now, wasn't laughin at ya or nothin, just thinkin how lucky i was to be stuck with such a cutie is all”. kankri blinked up at cronus for a second, taking his finger away from his mouth and growing. 

“i do not believe i have ever heard that term being used specifically for me before, except perhaps that other boy, i believe his name is rufioh”. cronus nodded enthusiastically at him, sitting down next to him and trying to catch his own breath though his wasn't as stressed. kankri's eyes followed him the entire time, like he was studying the seadweller, trying to figure out what it was that bothered him. “e-excuse me your name was cronus was it not?”, thinking for a moment, a certain jolt of fear making him feel a little sick, “what did you say that your last name was?”

cronus chuckled a little, picking out a small, dry stalk from the ground and twirling it in his fingers, “i didn't say, the names cronus ampora”, he looked over at kankri, he was staring up at him wide eyed in terror and his hands began to shake as he clutched his knees tighter to his chest. “don't give me that look kanny”, smiling down at him reassuringly, “i ain't one of them any more, ain't like my dad either, just me”. he stuck the stalk in his mouth and started chewing it, leaning back and resting his head on his elbows. it was a small comfort to kankri but it still made him very aware who he was with, realising that he would have to keep his distance from this one at all costs. 

cronus had slipped his eyes shut when kankri started talking again, only opening one eye to acknowledge what the other was saying, “th-that's good to know, not that i was afraid of you for that reason, because that's a harmful generalisation and if i were to do that then i would be even more hypocritical than i perhaps first thought i was”, biting his lip nervously, “the others? do you know them well”, cronus gave a slight nod to that, still keeping his eyes shut. “what are they like?”

the seadweller gave a small sigh, rolling over and propping himself up on his elbow, opening his eyes to look at kankri, “why do ya wanna know?”

“o-oh i didn't mean that you had to i was just wondering what they were like, i mean, they all look rather familiar but i cannot seem to put my finger on where i have seen them before is all”, diverting his gaze to his feet so he didn't have to look at those purple eyes again. 

kankri couldn't see but cronus gave a small genuine smile, almost loving if you read too much into it. “yeah that seems about right, all of us got some sorta problem with the world can't say i blame em”, he didn't roll back over, something about kankri made him keep staring, unable to look away. “where to begin, well i guess from the start huh? meenah's..well...we an her have known eachother since we were wrigglers, she's the batter bitches illegitimate child” kankri jumped back a little, his hands shaking again and he hid a little more into his cloak, eyes widening to the point her thought they would explode, cursing at himself for ever agreeing to playing a game. cronus noticed the sudden change in personality but couldn't understand why it was happening so he just continued, “well ya know who i am so thats pretty obvious, kurloz is another bastard child, he prefers not to be related to him” there was a certain darkness in cronus’s voice that meant he didn't need to say who it was. he started growling ever so slightly in his throat, “we all hate him any way, aranea belongs to mindfang, lil kid never goes with her though, gets sea sick to easily, lets see now. latula was the daughter of red glare, been put in an orphanage ever since her death, kinda always had a grudge on rany for that”.

“porrims mums locked in the palace somewhere, her names dolorosa”, cronus paused for a minute and scowled, “mother of that fucking mutant”. kankri winced at those words, his eyes began to sting but he managed to hold back the tears, nodding for him to keep going. “meulin’s a relative of his disciple i'm pretty sure, mituna’s the son of psiioniic or however the fuck you say it, oh, horuss is the son of that guy with the arrows, think his name was the executioner and rufi’s…”, he took a breath in and smiled brightly, “he's the summoners lil bro”. cronus looked down at kankri for the first time in all of those introductions, kankri was shaking quivering mess, he had his cloak over his eyes so he couldn't see the tears but the claws that he dug into his knees were proof enough that he wasn't ok, cronus was confused, blinking down at the little kid below him, “yo kanny you alright?”. kankri's voice came out as a cracked and shaky “i'm fine”, wiping little at his eyes which began to leak and looking back up at cronus, giving him a sweet smile.

“what about damara?”

cronus just stared at him for a full minute, mouth open, only just managing to stammer out a couple more words, “w-we dont know, shes got some beef with condi is all we got from what she says”. kankri nodded and hid his face between his knees again, trying to hold back the sobs that threatened to escape his lips, cronus panicked a little, not knowing what he did wrong but knowing that he did something. he decided to wrap kankri in a tight hug, the little mutant looked up and him confused but cronus didn't let go, pulling him into his chest, making soft soothing shushing sounds. 

“c-cronus i really am alright”, cronus shooshed him again, tracing little circles on his lower back, earning a purr that reverberating in his throat. kankris thin frame melted into cronus. cronus’s cheeks heated up ever so slightly, kankri made a small whimper of surprise when he was pulled into cronus’s lap, burying his little button nose in his shirt, curling in on his thinned body from lack of food, he made sure that karkat was properly fed, meaning that a lot of the time, he went hungry, cronus on the other hand was large and built, he was strong for a four sweeps, muscled and toned but he was gentle when he held kankri, like he didn't want to break him. 

cronus held kankri close to his chest until the blazing light of the sun cracked over the far off hills, he sound of marching soldiers in the background thumped into their tired heads and kankri looked up over his shoulder at the shadows up in arms, marching toward the castle's gates. there was a sudden realisation in his eyes as kankri tried to pull away from cronus, “i-i-i have to go!”, cronus didn't let go, he just stood blankly at him for a moment, confusion swarming in his eyes. 

“why?”

kankri just shook his head violently, his mind showing him images of karkat still in a dark tunnel by himself, squeaking in fear of the loud noises surrounding him and it scared him, he had to go back right away. “i-i can't tell you i just have to go”, he finally broke away from his tight grip and jumping to his feet, straightening his hair a little, “i-i apologies for being so rude but i must- please tell the others that i have to get out of the country, goodbye cronus”, and he was off, running as fast as his feet could carry him to the spot he left karkat, ducking under the sidewalk, stumbling over himself before reading his ballance, looking desperately around the cave for the little grub. “karkat?, karkat are you there?”

there was a tiny little yawn from behind one of the rocks, karkat rolled out of the corner and tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes. the sight of him made a wave of relief run throughout kankris body and he breathed out a sigh, quickly bending down and wrapping the little red grub in his cloak, nuzzling his tiny tubby stomach, making karkat giggle. the slipped down to the floor, curling up around the grub now noticing the movement around him, squeaking in a distressed manner. 

he rubbed the squirming grubs belly softly, tickling the sensitive red skin, earning the well deserved squeaks he wanted, making quiet shushing sounds as he tried to lul karkat back into a peaceful sleep for the journey ahead.

something was different this time, kankri and karkat had traveled from safehouse to safehouse, hiding themselves from any known threat that presented itself, it had never been a problem just up and going, no one cared whether he left or not, but for some unfathomable reason, kankri's mind flashed back to his new friend. those violet eyes burning images into his brain that he wanted to forget, horrible memories, painful memories, warm memories. it confused kankri to the core and he shook his head violently as if he could shake free of them. karkat squeaked up at him, fighting to keep his tired eyes open for his older brother, but kankri just kept smiling, even if it was fake it was comforting to the little grub and he soon gave in to the sweet humming kankri soothed him with. 

kankri relaxed a little where he stood, he had regained his breath and was ready to keep moving on, the pounding in his feet was barely a throb as he looked from side to side, wondering aloud if he should take the water pipes to the border. 

there was a shuffling a feet behind him when he noticed the droaning of the soldiers feet had left long ago, leaving the streets almost dead quiet. he whipped his head around, the thumping in his chest picking up as he laid eyes on the two figures behind him. cronus stood directly behind him, towering over the small troll and making him slightly uncomfortable, rufioh was still shifting outside, trying to squeeze under the stone grating with great difficulty. kankri panicked for a second, hiding the sleeping grub in the folds of his cloak, turning around to face the two large trolls in front of him, offering them a nervous smile. “i-i did not think that you would follow, how did you find me so quickly?”

cronus just pointed a thumb in the direction of rufioh who had fallen on the floor face first, he made a yelp of pain, sitting back and rubbing the fresh lump on his head, little droplets of pain speckling the corners of his eyes. “he said this is where he found you”. the orange blood finally picked himself off the floor, dusting off his bone lined clothing and rubbing the back of his head, a wide spread grin smacked right across his face. 

“cro wouldn't stop buggin me about it after you left, thought he might blow a fuse if i didn't show him, sorry doll”, kankri blinked at the two for a moment, shaking his head, his cheeks heating up as he heard about cronus wanting to look for him. 

“n-no really it is my fault, i should have given you a proper goodbye before running off like that, that was extremely rude of me, my apologies to both of you, you must have been at least half way through the game by now, i am glad that meenah has not caught the two of you yet, you must be very fast but i regret to inform you that i have some...places to be at this moment”. he fumbled with his words a little, holding the warm bundle tight to his chest, looking awkwardly down at his bare feet. “i-it was a pleasure to meet you all, if this wasn't such an urgent matter…”, he paused for a second, he knew exactly what to say but the thought closed his throat, it made his eyes sting a little and he didn't know why. gulping down the emotion that was swelling uncomfortably in the pit of his stomach and smiling up at them as sweetly as he could, “we could have been great friends”.

neither of the other two flinched a bit, a almost identical smile rose on both of their lips, something flashing across their soft faces that kankri couldn't quite make out, something that he wasn't aware of as rufioh held his fingers to his lips and whistled. the sharp ear piercing noise echoed all throughout the tunnel, making kankri want to cover his ears and curl into a ball until a gruff female voice sounded outside the cave, “yeah yeah we got it, put a pike in it nitram!”

the small opening in the wall was covered by tiny shadows of the children, their multi colored eyes peering into the tunnel with curiosity as they examined kankri. their gaze made him step back in alarm, shrinking back into the folds of his cloak until a big warm hand wrapped around his exposed wrist, pulling him toward the group with unnecessary strength. kankri yelped a little, karkat wiggling in his arms tiredly, rolling over in his sleep. the children were starting to slip into the cave, one by one dropping from the ceiling, helping each other as they landed, the girl named latula landed on her hands as she landed, attempting to do a cartwheel as she placed herself elegantly in front of kankri, to close for comfort he would say. “yo kankles when are we gonna blow this popsicle stand?! i wanna see some sun!”. kankri blinked at her, she was his height so he didn't have to strain his neck but her comment surprised him.

“i-i'm sorry, what was that?”

there was an impatient grunt from the back as meenah walked out pushing latula aside and looming over kankri like he was her pray, “when the glub are we leaving buoy? i don't know aboat you, but i don't water be around when all of this goes to ship do you?” he shrunk back a little into his cloak, darting his eyes around the room at all the kids surrounding him, cowering below meenah, his body twitched at the sudden fingers ruffling his hair, letting out a small whimper, looking up into the bright orange, fire like eyes.

rufioh chuckled a little at the response, hooking arms with him, “you ready to go kanny?”, kankri was speechless, the oxygen in his lungs had escaped him, the only thing he was capable of doing, was nodding up at them. every single one of them had a bright grin on their faces when he did that, rufioh's cheeks tinted a sweet orange colour, pressing his lips to the space between his horns, “let's get goin then!”. all twelve of them started moving down the tunnel at that moment, latula and mituna became so excited they were practically skipping, hand in hand as alway. they all followed rufioh and kankri, leading them down the dark winding cave on the adventure to find the light.

he couldn't understand what , when or why any of this happened but for once, he had a strange feeling curling around his heart, making small flecks of red appear at the corners of his eyes. for the first time in his life, with these strangers, the people that he had only met a few hours prior, made him feel more safe, more at home than anything else in the world, it pulled at his heart strings and he didn't want it to ever stop. he's turned his head around at the trailing group behind him, the tall female seadweller caught his eye and she blew him a kiss jokingly, his cheeks grew to a bright red and he looked up at rufioh who was still holding his hand tightly. nitram tilted his head down and flashed him a smile that warmed his entire body through, but it wasn't enough, with a quick glance behind him his grin grew to a cheeky smirk. in a flash he had swooped kankri up into a bridal style hold, running at breakneck speed down the road ahead of them, kankri didn't even have time to react to the action, hearing the angered shouts of his friends behind him as they pelted down the hall. rufioh was giggling and smiling frantically, kankri wrapping his arms around rufioh's neck for support, staring wide eyes in bewilderment at the orange blood, seeing the bright happiness on his face made kankri happier than ever, a small smile cracking across his plump face, nuzzling into the flushed cheeks of rufioh and giggling along side of them. it was all too real, everything about it, it was like a dream, that he never wanted to wake up from.


	2. Candied lipstick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dave and john have found a new friend, a friend they can never tell anyone about and neither can he, he can never let anyone know who he is, or that he's with them, and yet he's excited to meet the family, bro, mum, nana and all of the above. its nice to have someone to share cookies with every once in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, um, thanks for liking my work guys, i honestly thought that you would hate it so my expectations weren't that hight but, thanks, you guys are really sweet, I've only actually checked through this part once so there is a high chance that the typos and grammar mistakes are going to be unbearable, not to mention the actual story itself, just thought that i would warn you now while i have the chance.

But like all good dreams there has to be an end, as all good dreams go, nothing is as it seems.

they all ran away together to a safe house, somewhere where no one would find them and where they could live happily for as long as they wanted to. like a family they took care of each other, helping each other with things that they felt were hard. meenah and damara took on the role of baking so that everyone had something to eat while cronus, rufioh and horuss went hunting for food every night, porrims overall job was being like a mother to everyone, especially kankri and kankris job was to defuse any fight that was caused at the house. but there were some jobs that weren't at all clear, like mituna was unable to help with the household chores and would often hurt himself if he tried, because of this latula became his caretaker, making sure that he was happy, having fun or had someone to talk to at all times. aranea was a story teller, she read them stories of pirates and heroes every night to raise their spirits and to let them dream of the future that they would live in and...well...no one really knows what happened to meulin and kurloz at night, they would just spontaneously disappear but no one really questioned it, but it worked and for sometime, they lived happily. 

but time went on, they began to become rougher, their lifestyle was no longer stable and their house was no longer safe. meenah was the first to leave, screaming behind her as she left, things like “low blooded scum” and “pissblooded freaks”. periodically they all started leaving, one by one they began to leave kankri alone, latula, aranea, horuss, rufioh, meulin even cronus. but not porrim, porrim would never leave her son, never. but life was hard for them, constantly on the run, never stopping for a moment. occasionally they would hear about their friends, most of which had taken on the role of their predecessor. meenah had been established queen of a crumbling empire with cronus and kurloz at her side, kurloz had convinced everyone that he was a god that should be worshipped, his greatest slave being meulin. horuss had become the royal engineer, however, people like aranea and latula did not work for the empire, they became freelance, doing people's dirty work, robbing, pillaging, killing. there were certain people they never heard from, rufioh and mituna never turned up in any stories but even more so, neither did damara, it was like she herself had vanished off the face of the earth, but that story doesn't concern us, because our story doesn't start there, no, it starts at the beginning, in a town, not to far away from alternia, small but bright with laughter, we liked to call it, Alphys. 

\--------------

dirk's eyes snapped open in the soft light of the morning, like any other morning the birds were chirping, the babbling of water could be heard in the far distance and the irritating sunlight streamed in through the cracks in the ceiling and landed right in his eye, wonderful. dirk groaned as he sat up, rubbing at his sleepless eyes as he searched for the blonde haired cool kid that usually slept in his bed because of night terrors, but he wasn't there, not a trace of the kid anywhere, unusual. he groaned again as his feet hit the cold floorboards that sent shivers all up his spine, he reached out to grab the pointed goggles at his bed side table before he opened the door. the sun was warm but the wind was freezing as anything, hitting him flat him in the face to wake him up fully, “fuck”. 

there he was, weaving his way through the oaks, soft blonde hair bouncing around his face as he ran through the trees, the adorably happy look on his face bring a small smile to dirk's face, it didn't look happy, there was no smile, no way to tell especially now that he himself had his goggles on, but he had an air about him, an air that made you excited, that made you smile just like it did to dirk, that is what dave was after all. 

he stood in the doorway, leaning on the frame as he looked at his bro play around in the leaves, that was until he began to question it, why was he happy? he had always been going on about the fact that they didn't have anything, but now, he's, playing, like there was nothing to worry about. that was when he noticed his lips, they were moving, like he was talking to someone, someone who was hiding behind the trees, something out of his sight. 

it wasn't that he was particularly scared but he was curious, slowly and quietly he began to move toward him, making sure that dave didn't notice that he was coming. 

dave's head suddenly snapped around, tiny blurry red eyes stared at him through his goggles and the sound of a frantic rustling was heard behind the tree as the thing hid. it was a little awkward but he raised himself from the bushes trying to get a look at whatever it was but it had hidden itself too well, fuck. 

“hey bro”

“sup”, pretending as if he didn't know why dirk was up that early. 

dirk made a face somewhat akin to a pout as he looked down at his little bro, curling a fake smile on his lips “so who's the…????”, you can't blame him, it isn't easy to ask about your bros social life especially when you aren't actually sure what it entails, right?

dave instinctively moved in front of the rock the thing was obviously hiding behind, the rock that aa small tuft of raven black hair was sticking out above, gotcha. he shot dave a dirty look for the first time in a long time, “john fucking egbert, how many times has your dad told us not to hang around here”, at that moment john popped his head up from behind his hiding place, big, blue, innocent eyes staring up at him through his glasses, offering him a sweet buck toothed smile. 

“please dont tell dad, it won't happen again i swear, i just, dave never comes to town!” he said, trying his best to be a good little kid. 

“any chance there could be a reason for that egbert?”, dirk really didn't have time for this, he wasn't upset that he was here, but he knew he'd get an earful from his dad if he stayed. the hurt look that both the boys gave him was heartbreaking, two best bros, getting caught by a parent, what a hard life. regardless it still softened him, he could never argue with that face, especially when dave gave it to him, little cheat, “whatever, dave..” he turned to his little bro, still giving him the largest puppy eyes you have ever seen, “we need shit from town, if i give you a couple of boons will you get it?”

it was small but it lit up a spark in both their eyes, both of them giving him enthusiastic nods as he handed them the golden currency he sighed again as they saw them disapear in the direction of the town a couple of miles away before he turned back toward the house. from the corner of his eye he could have sworn he saw a shadow pass behind him but when he turned around, they were gone, probably just his imagination, nothing to worry about, what could possibly go wrong. 

\--------------

the town was a little while away but it wasn't too long that you couldn't walk and it had been ages since dave went there, as much as he didn't want to show it, he was really excited to finally see everything, the bustling people, the shops, smell the smell of nanas pies, or mums alcohol depending on where you were, he was especially excited to go, with his two best friends. 

no you didn't miss read me, i said two, john skipped along next to dave, occasionally looking behind him to make sure he wasn't lost, but who were they kidding, as if the little troll would ever get lost. this was one friend that dave could never tell his bro about, he was too precious to him and he would never forgive himself if he lost him so he had to be a secret, this friend's name was karkat vantas, the cutest, most angry troll anyone could ever meet. he only had one volume and he was ruder than bro on his bad days but he was the most trusting friend he had ever had, even john, and that was saying something. 

they were halfway to the town, just barely able to see the rooftops from where they were standing on the hill when they called karkat, smiling over at the small shadows ducking itself behind the bushes. slowly and shyly he immersed, draped from head to toe in thick dirty rags till only his burning red eyes were visible, not an inch of grey skin to be seen, john's face cracked into a toothy smile as he crash tackled karkat until the little troll began trying to claw john's face out. but who couldn't do that when his little apple cheeks were burning red like that, it was too cute. at least that was what he thought, but he would never admit to that, too cool. 

karkat slipped on the goggles that dave had given him a while ago to hide his eyes, this way no one could see him, he was just a human to everyone now but even then, he was still nervous to meet all of them, he had heard so much about these people from john and although he always wanted the kid to shut his face he was genuinely interested to meet them. his costume was now completed so they began making their way down the hill, karkat's hand clasped in dave's hand for support. 

the streets were always dirty, covered with woman, men, children, people of all ages hurrying and bustling in amongst each other, the burning smell of spices hung heavy in the air and the drone of people's voices filled his sense completely, enveloping him in a deep warmth that settled in his stomach even as dave jostled him past busy street after busy street. it was beautiful, just seeing families playing like that together, it reminded him of something but he couldn't quite remember what it was, something in his memories, probably wasn't important. 

john and dave pulled him through the crowd of people into a small side street dotted with rows of doors karkat assumed led to dwellings, suddenly he was pulled onto the steps of a particularly lavish door decorated with sweet swirls and pattern and he heard johns tiny fist knock on the wood. from inside they could hear the thudding of someone heavy inside growing louder until the door swung open and a huge woman stood in the doorway, hands on hips as she looked down at the small group of boys before her. 

“john egbert, where have you been????? your mother and i have been worried sick!”

john giggled sweetly even though the seriousness in her voice was scaring karkat a little, there was nothing really nana could do if john disappeared like that but she always found peace in knowing he was always going to be ok if he was with dave. she sighed deeply, stepping to the side to let the boys in until her eyes fell on the tiny cloaked boy avoiding her gaze at all costs, “well well well what do we have here?”

the thing about nana was she could be scary when she wanted to, but not now, she wasn't scaring him, she was merely giving him the biggest, warmest, rosy cheeked smile you could ever expect from a lusus, like a pie. and it wasn't like she meant to hurt him because she didn't but she could have been a little more gentle when she clapped a hand to his back, “another one of john's friends then? wonderful, i've made extra cookies anyway! you do eat that sort of thing don't you?”

it did take karkat a small while to regain his composure but slowly he nodded, shifting uncomfortably in the spot behind dave before he was dragged towards the couch where a tall elegant woman was sprawled out with a large brown bottle cradled in her hand. she didn't stay there for long however, the moment her soft pink eyes laid themselves on dave and john she was up, her face looked like it was bubbling over with a sense of joy as she crash tackled the two boys in a loving motherly embrace. 

“davey~! johnny~!” she sounded overjoyed to see her boys again because karkat honestly thought that she was about to suffocate them in her hold, and she probably would have if she had not spotted the small cloaked boy curling in on himself with embarrassment, “oooooo~ and who's this i wonder~?”, before the small troll knew what was happening he was pulled into the hug by a delicately manicured hand and squeezed tightly between all three of them. 

it was a little while before johns mum finally released them and a little longer until she stopped peppering her little pumpkins with kisses until they were practically painted in her lipstick but they didn't mind, it had been a long time since mum had seen dave, it had been a long time since most of them had seen dave and too be completely honest, they missed him like he was their son, but that was another story. 

karkat sunk down into the couch pillows as he listened to the endless flow of happy babbling that slipped through mrs lalondes candy coloured lips, it sounded weird but it reminded him of home, the only thing that brought him back to his senses was the vomit inducing smell of run that hung all around her, but no one really seemed to mind, especially mrs crocker who seemed to scoot closer and closer to the pink lady until they were wrapped warmly in each others arms and crocker's cheeks went the colour of ripe apples. 

they spent hours there just chatting away about things that karkat could never understand, things about john's dad, dave's sister, how someone called jade had gone out on a hunting expedition with her grandfather, but karkat never really got their terminology, wasn't it just a whole lot easier to say lusus? i don't know, i can't wrap my head around it. the family talked well until the sun was hovering over the mountains, desperate to fall asleep after such a long day, karkat knew how it felt like, he hadn't survived the conversation, only waking up when dave gently started to shake him, saying that he should probably leave before his lusus started to worry where he was and trust me, when he worries, he worries. 

john wanted to walk him home but he refused, not that he didn't like john or anything, actually it was the oppo- not going to get into that, he just didn't want anyone knowing where they were, it was a danger enough that the humans knew he existed, it would be much much worse if they found out where they were hiding. karkat thanked lalonde and crocker in the quietest voice he could muster and left with half a dozen lipstick stains on his hood and a freshly baked apple pie, absolutely nothing to complain about, he liked the family, he liked them a lot.


	3. Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> continuation of the first chapter, dave and karkat go home and not only is kankri worried about the whereabout of karkat during the day but also some insight into what happens in daves nightmares

the trees over looked the clearing like a thick canopy, spreading over to block out the sky, faintly in the distance you could hear the whispers of creatures in the undergrowth, though they meant no harm sometimes they could set him on edge, especially at night. his ears twitched at the sound of a snapping twig nearby, a familiar scent wafting into his nostrils of cherries and dirt. his muscles relaxed as the small tuft of messy black hair appeared from over the top of a rock and karkat appeared carrying a small bag over his shoulder that smelt like apples and sugar but he didn't care, he was already rushing to the small child and wrapping him in his arms, nuzzling his nose into the thick black locks. 

“K-KANKRI!? HEY, ITS OK, IM NOT HURT OK? I'M FINE-!”

“where were you!? i was worried sick! do you know how many dangers there are in these woods at night?! you could have been killed! never ever ever ever ever ever ever do that to me again do you hear me? never!” he hadn't noticed that his hands were shaking but he didn't want to let karkat go, not until his heart was safely beating inside his chest again, at a normal pace this time. 

“S-SORRY KANKRI, I WAS JUST OUT GETTING SOME THINGS…”, karkat pulled out the still warm pie from the bag and showed it to kankri, a small childish smile spreading across his dirty face, “SEE, HARMLESS”. 

it wasn't much, but the sweet warm scent of the pie practically washed over him like a wave, who knew anyone could be made so happy by a pie? and yet, so confused. kankri gently reached out and took the pastry from the little boys arms and cradling it so it didn't crumble, it felt hot in his hands but he didn't feel it, his mind was too swamped about unanswered questions and one nagging thought in the back of his head that seemed to want attention.

“karkat…”

“YEAH?”

“where did you get this?”

the smaller troll froze in his spot and seemed as if to shrink into the folds of his cloak, looking down shamefully at his feet. kankri watched as karkat shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other before it suddenly hit him, he didn't did he??????. “I FOUND IT”

but kankri wasn't listening, he leaned in closer to karkat, reaching a delicate hand out to take away a twig from the hopelessly tangled hair before cupping the child's cheeks in his hands. like a cat he leaned into the touch and seemed to purr sheepishly at the warm contact, something karkat only ever did for his brother, “who are they?? the human boys i mean, they must be special if you are willing to risk so much to see them wouldn't they now vantas?”

karkat groaned, curling in on himself, hugging his knees to his chest when he felt the familiar heat rise up in the apples of his cheeks, this was also very familiar to kankri for reasons he wasn't about to admit, “ooooooh so you are flushed for these humans?” he couldn't help but let a soft smile curl on his lips when he saw the disgusted recoil of his flustered little karkat, “now now karkat you don't have to hide it, i am just worried is all, however, i do not want you to do anything silly even if you are hopelessly flushed for these characters, i don't want you putting them or yourself in danger are we clear?”

there was a soft groan in agreement and kankri was satisfied, “good, now come inside, porrim has made us dinner, we wouldn't want to trigger her now would we?”. karkat nodded his head and kankri took his hand, leading him into the small cottage where porrim was setting the table, like mrs lalonde porrim never wasted any time in giving her “children” a warm greeting, filled with jade green lipstick stains and rib breaking cuddles though unlike john's mother, she was a lot more elegant with the way that she did it, she was always elegant with whatever she did, even if she didn't need to be but he didn't really mind, he kind of liked having a mum, whatever that actually meant. 

they never actually had that much to eat so meals were always short, but karkat didn't think that much about it, especially not today, he was still on a high after the trip he just had and literally nothing, nothing i tell you, could bring him down. 

\--------------

incidentally, it was the same for dave. it wasn't unusual for dave to come home well into the night, so he didn't think of it that much when he walked in the door to find dirk lying fast asleep on the bed. dave let out a small sigh as he looked at his bro, a small smile curling on his lips before he began to walk over to the tall blonde, tucking himself underneath his bros arm so he could curl up to his chest. dave hated to sleep, his night terrors would haunt him well into the early morning light but for some inexplicable reason, the steady heartbeat that drummed next to his ear would lull him slowly to sleep, no matter what he did to try and stop it, not that he was complaining, his bro was awesome after all. 

he began to dream of fluffy black haired trolls with candy red eyes, morphing slowly into splashes of what looked like rainbow paint being dashed across the walls that sent chills of fear spiralling down his body. the images sprayed into his mind in a whirl of colour, nothing but bright, red and screaming, the awful screaming, piercing his ears, karkat was there, being held in the arms of another troll like a brother or father, but he was, crying, wailing like a child, the sound of his agony forcing dave's heart down into the dark pit of his stomach and the black shards began to fall away from his eyes, god no, no no no no no no no no no!!.

he scrambled to his feet, clawing at the empty shards of shaded glass as it fell away from his eyes, revealing those disgusting, frightened eyes of crimson. it was too much, he began to claw at his eyes, drawing blood from his sockets as the droplets streamed down his face. searing burning pain erupted throughout his entire body, originating from the empty eye sockets forcing dave to scream out in fear. 

his body rocked with a familiar gentleness, he could hear the sound of his bro speaking his name and his eyes snapped open. it was like any other night, the sweat glistened on his tanned skin, his eyes had widened in terror as he looked up into dirks concerned orange eyes. dirk had shaken dave from yet another night terror, holding the little blonde kids shaking body until his breath would finally return to normal. 

dave took in grateful gulps of air as he realised he had forgotten to breath, counting in every breath that he took until they became steady again. it was still dark outside, the moon was stationary in its place above the house, hanging with the stars in the sky. dirk offered dave a helpful smile, settling back into his comfortable position on the bed, he didn't say anything, he didn't really need to, both of them needed rest even if it was filled with unimaginable terrors. dave returned the smile reluctantly, curling up at dirks chest again, closing his eyes and wishing, hoping that one day he wouldn't have those fears, that for once in his life, he could sleep easy.


	4. Kankri

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yes this story is going to fast, no i dont particularly care, yes i put random input in to distract you from the fact that i really did not know what to write and yes i am an aweful writer, i believe that would answer many a question. oh and my head canon for kankris body is really feminine, kind of curvy, chubby little thighs, short as fuck, that kind of thing.   
> thanks again guys

the crimson light bounced up from the water, right back over kankris body and temporarily blinding him. karkat had gone out for the day as he always did this early in the morning, porrim was not around either though he did not ask where either of them went, he prefered to leave them to their own instances as long as they would be held responsible for their own actions, which he was sure they would own up to. it would be a horrible thing if he did not trust them after all. 

the cool water rushed over his now flushed feet, tinted bright red from the the cold as he sat on the river bank, letting his feet relax and his head loll back. kankri lay back, feeling the skin on his back brush against the grass behind him. he often was left alone most days so he liked to treasure the precious moments with his brother though he did like the quiet that he could get these times. he could feel his eyes slip shut and a wave of exhaustion washed over him, inviting him to fall back into a peaceful sleep, too strong to ignore. 

kankri didn't feel like fighting it today, feeling his muscles relax into the grass and his breath deepen slightly, the final touch only needing to be the soft purr that rumbled deep in his chest, curling in and himself, warming his heart and drifting him slowly off into a soothing nap. 

\--------------

dave left early again that morning, sporting dark shadows under his eyes from the lack of sleep but they were invisible underneath the shades, out of sight and therefore, out of mind. dirk really worried for the little guy, he may be a sassy little shit sometimes but he was his brother, only family they really had after all, but there wasn't anything he could do about it now, little dude had gone with john again, something about having an adventure in the mountains. 

guess dave missed it then, missed being with the little nerd but it's been, different lately, he's been, distracted to say the least. the nightmares have been more frequent and he's been getting up far too early every morning, hours before john even arrived. but those didn't bother him, no, not till he heard him crying in the night, dave hadn't been asleep, this was conscious crying, and close, not to far away from dave he could hear another noise, the sound of something soothing, gentle purring, like a kitten, like something was with him at the time. and it scared him, it scared him half to death. 

he needed to take it off his mind for now, it was getting to him and he didn't know what to do about it, for now, he would just try and focus on weaving his way through the trees, stupid forest was stupidly huge, i mean what the fuck, no wonder he always has to save jake when he gets lost in this goddamn place. not that he really minded saving jake, gave him something to do, in ways more than one. but anyway, we should probably be getting back to the story now. 

the cool steel of the sword pressed against his skin protectively, weighing down against his hip to let him always know it was there, as an option, making him feel slightly less edgy whilst his house began to become smaller and smaller in the distance. dirk was suddenly snapped from his thoughts by the sound of a bird, fluttering right next to him as if it had been frightened by a movement of some kind. 

the man crouched low in the bushes, creeping slowly forward towards the source of the noise, immersing himself in the thick green undergrowth until he was almost completely camouflaged by the leaves surrounding him, the only thing being visible was the dull glint of his katana gleaming in the light. moving along the forest floor with the least amount of noise as possible until the thing was just within sight, the shadows figure beginning to come into view slowly. 

it was cloaked, shadowed by the overhanging canopy, the only visible thing he was able to see was the small tuft of hair sticking out from underneath the hood. from what he could tell the creature was somewhat humanoid, bordering feminine from the way that its hips curved underneath the fabric but terror began to set in when the cloth began to fall away, revealing smooth grey flushed skin, like a corpse, the blood red stones surrounded by that burning yellow instead of white, nearly covered completely by the mass of thick raven black hair that framed its beautiful flushed face. dirk had almost completely forgotten what he had been doing before, his eyes roaming all over the creature's body, becoming more and more visible to him as the thing shed its layers until he realised just how much of it he could actually see. but fuck he didn't really care, the blonde had never seen anything like this before, marveling at how carefully he laid down on the grass by the river bank, admiring how its pointed ears pricked at any sound that dared to ruin the atmosphere. fuck, he felt the slightest of twigs snap underneath him, watching as the creature snapped its head up at the drop of a pin, he didn't stick around for long, he bolted through the bushes at the speed of a thousand frightened gazelle, snapping branches as he went, hearing as the sound of the creature came behind him. god fuck that thing was fast. 

no matter how hard or how fast dirk could run that thing caught up to him with no effort at all, wedging itself between dirk and the path to safe safe home, showing off its true glory in front of- of for fucks sake dirk pay attention. the creature placed itself right in the middle of the path, making it impossible for dirk to ever be able to get past him. but it was weird, from the way that the monsters fangs gleaming in the sun or the ferociousness of those claws it could have mowed him down with no effort at all, especially with its running ability, so why didn't he?. 

it stayed there, unmoving as it stared right into his eyes, even through his shades it felt like he was far too vulnerable, not even noticing when his hand began moving subconsciously toward the sword strapped safely at his hip. its eyes darted down in alarm, the claws flashed downward, holding dirks wrist down with incredible force, if any more was applied, his wrist would have shattered. “please, i am not here to harm you”. 

dirks heart skipped a beat, trying his best to fight against the restraint holding his hand down in sheer panic. his voice was soft when he spoke to him but it filled him with something akin to fear, something that made him feel uneasy. something else began to crawl in his stomach when the thing came closer, the tension on his wrist beginning to loosen and he felt the katana clutter to the ground, his body wincing at the sound of the metal hitting stone. 

it finally let go of him, his body visibly relaxing when the creatures warm fingers slid off him, and even a little bit of disappointment but we’ll get to that later. 

now that the creature was closer he could see the detail on him, he assumed it was a guy anyway, the plump slightly red face, pointed fangs, glowing red eyes that stared up at him, almost as if he was even more scared of him then he was scared of it, dr. seuss shit right there. yeah that's what it looked like from where he was standing, a huge muscled man towering over a frightened creature, makes a lot more sense now. 

from behind the creature he could just see his house, placed perfectly in the middle of the valley, somewhere in there he could see the blonde haired boy running down the hill, hand in hand with the little black haired dork, giggling about something he probably would never be able to understand but for once it wasn't dave that he was feeling worry for, it was the little guy in front of him, clinging to his arms because of the cold hair that now hit his bare skin, staring up at him with wide cowering eyes that reminded him almost like a kitten. 

ok i think now would be a good time to tell you that he wasn't actually naked, he was wearing some...weird...pant type things? let's, for now just call them luscious leggings for the sake of the story, or else we’re gonna get nowhere. the leggings didn't exactly leave much to the imagination either, there was still a hefty amount of upper skin shown and the fabric seemed to hug his body nicely, showing off the curves in his hips and the chubby little thighs, ok seriously, enough of that!!!!

the creature still didn't move, occasionally he would shiver from a cold breeze or he would break eye contact only for a moment but other than that he was like a rock, both of them unmoving. waiting for someone to finally come along and break the silence between them. 

“KANKRI?”


	5. Second times the charm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry for taking so long to give you this shitty little peice of crap. lifes been slow, sorry again.

Dirk sat in the warm light of the son, falling into a doze to the sound of the rustling leaves swirling above his head. It had been a couple of days since his….encounter with the troll names “kankri”. He was beginning to wonder if he would ever see him again and to his horror, he found that it terrified him, he didn't want that stranger to disappear from his life but he didn't want to meet him again. Images of his frightened red eyes made dirks stomach turn in guilt. 

 

Dave left almost everyday now with his “new” friend, probably to that man's house but he didn't like to dwell on that. However this feeling of curiosity bubbling in the pit of his stomach was becoming almost unbearable and the other day it spilled, he had asked dave if his friends wanted to come over. Dave seemed confused at first, tilting his head to one side as if he was trying to figure out why dirk would ask when all of a sudden it clicked. Daves eyes flashed with a knowing stare that dirk had never seen before and it made him feel uneasy, but fuck that, he's too cool for emotions like this, fuck emotions. He didn't care that he was about to meet him again, he didn't care at all, he didn't even care that he was going to be wearing clothes this time. Which is exactly why he didn't almost jump out of his skin when he heard a harsh knocking on the door. The soft patter of dave's feet echoed inside the house, accompanied by A grin to grace his lips he heard soft footsteps growing closer and closer to where he was and to his disgrace, his heart rate picked up in a familiar sort of way. 

 

The door creaked open and dave walked outside with john and the two strangers in tow. Dirk decided to stand, deciding that he didn't want to be rude, setting the sword he was sharpening aside so that he could shake the timid looking trolls hand. The troll looked dirk up and down, eyes alert and darting to the sword next to him, the only visible source of danger he could find. Dirk saw this act of fear and he visibly relaxed. Knowing that he wasn't the only one scared shitless right now somehow came as a great relief. Rubbing the back of his neck nervously he looked down at the troll and did something that he dared not do in front of anyone other than his bro. Slowly he raised his hands up to his eyes, taking hold of the shades that covered the bright orange suns that were his eyes, the two things he despised more than anything about himself, the two things that had caused him to much pain, the two things he had considered the only thing that protected him, and now, he was about to reveal them to a complete stranger. 

 

The glasses slid easily off his nose and he had to squint in the morning light until his eyes adjusted. There was a sharp intake of air from everyone around him, even dave, especially john as they all stared into those huge golden orbs of light. Dirk flashed a starstruck kankri a man catching smile, throwing an ever so less than subtle wink his way. It was almost unbearably cute how kankri's face lit up bright red in embarrassment and took the hand that dirk offered him, his tensed shoulders relaxing and he let out the breath he had forgotten he was holding. 

 

“Seems we got off on the wrong foot”, he said joyful, shaking the trolls hand, “my name's dirk strider”.


	6. the war has begun

Heavy, mud covered boots tramped through the empty halls, the cold hair prickling at his skin and the lonely echo of the walls sent uncomfortable shivers up and down his spine. The sound of his shoes stopped as he stood in front of the heavily decorated doors, sighing deeply at the intricate paintings of her majesty and for just a second, he began to see glimpses of that time, that time where no peace could have existed in the world and yet somehow, they found happiness. Back when blood hadn't touched his skin, back when he hadn't known the taste of victory, back when he remembered what the warmth of a family was like. Tears slid out of his eyes and his nose prickled and burned, screaming for the relief of breaking down. But it had been years since he showed that kind of emotion, it had been even longer since he had let anyone else see it. His mind flashed to those soft red eyes that used to give him so much comfort and he almost doubled over, banishing the thoughts from his mind, extinguishing them with a sense of desperation as he frantically wiped away the purple staining his cheeks. 

 

His hands reached for the door and with one great heave, he threw open the doors to reveal that familiar scene he had seen day in and day out. There she was, in all her grace, sitting atop her throne, the jewels of her crown shimmering in contrast to the blank bones of her enemies underneath her, perched on her lap was that blue blooded horror, with a book in her hands and a shit eating smile stretching from ear to ear like a snake or a spider if it could smile. His stomach turned with the poisonous scene but he managed a smile as well, one filled with disdain but a smile nevertheless. He knelt in respect for her majesty just in time for them both to turn their heads toward him in acknowledgment of his presence. 

 

“My imperial condescension, you asked to speak with me?” 

 

Her voice seemed to be colder than usual, colder, he thought, than the halls he lived in but he payed no attention to that as she spoke, taking in every word like the good little soldier that he was. “Aranea, do you mind leaving us alone for the time being, i have something...important to discuss”. There was that smirk again, twisted and gut wrenching as she hopped off of her lap and gracefully scampered away, turning to take one last bow, before leaving, closing the large doors behind her. 

 

He had been so occupied looking after the spider bitch that he didn't notice that her majesty had gotten off of her throne and was walking toward him, latching him in a choking headlock and cackling like an insane witch. “Why such a buzz kill cro! Whales that bouy i used to know!?”. Her voice became warmer and warmer every second that they spoke and he would have enjoyed it had it not been for the lack of air his lungs were getting. Tapping her arm frantically he tried to get himself free, doing his best to wheeze and “uncle” as she let him go and allow him to take grateful lung fulls of air. 

 

“Jegus christ meenah, can your thighs squeeze as tight as your arms” he coughed amusingly before he got a well deserved kick to the ribs and a scoff of annoyance. “Yeah yeah, deserved that one i get it” he straightened his back, looking at eye level with meenah as they both burst out laughing, holding each other as they tried to calm their aching ribs. As per usual, meenah pulled out a box full of cigars and cronus lit em up, allowing them to unwind for a little while, have a breather and a talk shit before they even got into anything serious. It was good, he enjoyed these moments, sometimes he wished he could trust her a little more but pickers can't be choosers, he said to hiself as she chuckled at another pathetic excuse for a pick up line and she said another bad fish pun, they were even. Cronus smiled back at her as her face began to morph into something almost...sorrowful, that was new. 

 

She took in a deep breath and let out a sigh, crushing the cigar butt under her foot and flashing him a knowing smile and patting his back whole heartedly, her eyes saying the opposite, something mixed with regret and sadness. All good things have to end i guess. 

 

“Got some good news bouy.” she said finally, the air around them setting into an intense feeling of seriousness, “got some news from our intelligence among the humans…. It's the last piece of the puzzle i guess”. Her hand slipped off of his shoulder and he threw her a quizzical look, throwing what was left of his cigar on the floor. 

 

“What do you mean?”

 

She looked down at her feet as if refusing to look him in the eyes. With a big effort she lifted her shoulders up, eyes looking right ahead of her, chest puffed out, it was almost like she doubled in size and the sense of pride in her eyes lit up the room like fire, setting courage deep in his belly. “It's time to put our plans into action! once he is out of the way there will be no one to stop us!” she tried to hide the crack in her voice but she stood strong ever more so, looking down on cronus as slowly, the cogs began to turn. He began to realise and hope rose in his throat, a bright white light that blinded his senses for a moment and he hadn't realised that tears began prickling at the sides of his eyes as he breathed out the words he had been dying to say. 

 

“He's not dead”. 

 

Her eyes flashed with the same emotion for a second before it was overcome by sadness and she blinked back her own tears. “He's not dead”

 

“We found him?”

 

A warm hand slapped his shoulder briefly, “we found him!” 

 

It was all so sudden, in one great sweep cronus had meenah lifted up in his arms, swinging her around in joy as they both chuckled mindlessly, swing each other around like it was the happiest day of their lives, like they had found a long lost brother, like they could taste freedom on the tip of their tongues and they screamed to the almighty gods for all the joy that they were giving them. Nothing could have felt better, nothing, but again….all good things have to end eventually. 

 

Cronus set her down on the ground, breathing and panting, a huge, toothy smile plastered across his face. Meenah had the same, from ear to ear, grinning like she had just seen an angel. That was, until reality set in. it was almost like a chain reaction, their faces began to morph, they began to think f what would happen in the future and their fears were realised. “We found him?”

 

“We found….him”

 

They wrapped each other in a hug again, cronus shoulders beginning to shake, “gog, i miss him so much, gog i miss him so much. 

 

“Cronus….i miss him too….i do…..hes….hes an enemy….he's our enemy…..you know what we have to do….”

 

He looked up again, tears staining his worn out cheeks, seeing meenah's eyes swollen gave him a sense of comfort but the regret was overpowering. There was nothing they could do. Nothing more they could say to each other. They broke apart slowly, unwilling to let go of there only comfort. He hers her heels tab across the pristine floors as she sat herself atop her pile of bones, puffing out her chest one last time, lifting her chin to look up at the heavens, her voice boomed out around the palace to the servants who placed themselves outside. 

 

The war has begun.


	7. well that was quick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yeah nah I just got really lazy, kankri lives with dirk right now, he finds it safer then his actual home so everyone who lives in the old house now lives with dirk.

Something warm pressed up against his back, the feeling of weightless heat filling his every sense and engulfing his body, he felt his shoulders ease, his muscles relax as he gave into hat warm, comfortable feeling, watching as the demons around him vanished, as he no longer saw those things that haunted him every waking second of every waking day and attacked him at night, with claws and talons, waiting in the dark to strike. It was minutes but for what seemed like hours he relished in that comfort, peace, peace he hadn’t felt for years was now radiating off of him. It was almost five minutes later until he realised that this was foreign and of course. He panicked. 

Kankri’s eyes snapped open, wide and searching for the source of the warmth, frantically twisting around to be greeted with a face full of tanned skin, scars snaking their way over its features and he frowned. With a great effort, he craned his neck up to see dirks calm, sleeping face and he sighed, tapping silently on dirks chest, causing him to stir out of whatever pleasant dream he was having. Dirk began to stir, sleepily fluttering his eyes open and allowing them to adjust to the light, focusing on the small troll curled like a cat in his arms. Kankri took a deep breath in, clearing his throat which seemed to be constricting him, the incessant pounding in his chest growing more annoying by the second. 

“dirk?” he said softly, dirk had closed his eyes again, groaning out a small noise in recognition, “dirk strider, what is it that you think you are doing, if I recall we fell asleep in separate resting places, if you feel that yours is inadequate you could always have woken me and we could have simply swapped”. There was no rely. He could see that dirk was slowly falling back to sleep and he tapped on his chest again. Dirks eyes slipped open, still cloudy with exhaustion but managing to actually get words out this time. 

“yeah kan?”

“dirk! Pay attention to me when I’m talking to you! Its rude to just ignore me”. A slight pout forming on kankris plump lips. Dirk smirked lazily, pulling kankri further into his chest, tucking the little troll in under his chin and kissing the top of kankri’s charcoal hair. Needless to say that kankri practically jumped out of his skin, accidentally slipping off the side of the bed and landing head first onto the floor boards. “dirk?! What in gogs name do you think you’re doing?!” . 

This time dirk woke up, his eyes snapping open as he looked down at the troll, confused, tilting his head to the side in question. “how’s the view from down there kan?” he mocked, reaching out a hand to lift kankri back onto the bed. Kankri took it with a shaky hand, well aware that his face was burning like a camp fire on steroids. 

“d-dirk…..what was that?....w-why did you…did you….uhhh….why did you…kiss me?” he managed to fumble out, curling up on the bed, now painfully conscious of the lack of cloths they shared. His hands moved to cover the areas that he wasn’t so proud of, which was all of it, so he had to go fumbling for the blankets instead, unable to decide which part of him he preferred dirk didn’t see the least. 

Dirk moved a hand to rub at the sleep in his eyes, the quizzical look still plain on his face as he ran over the possible things he could have done in his head. Then it dawned on him, first confusion, that recognition, that guilt, then terror, then horror, as all of these things morphed onto his face in record speed, nice one dirk, you got there eventually, round of applause for this guy. And while dirk was having his small mental break down, kankri wasn’t doing too well either, pulling the blanket over his horns and wrapping himself in a cocoon of fabric. This turned out to be an even worse idea, taking the blanket off of dirk who, as it turned out, didn’t wear much to bed. Kankri covered the rest of his face with the blanket, making small distressing noises into his hands. 

Thank god one of them snapped out of their little fairy tale world, dirk quickly reaching over to pull the blanket away from kankris eyes, watching as those big red watery eyes, stared back at him and almost shined. Dirk nearly had the wind knocked out of him but he smiled anyway, offering kankri one of his signature “everything is alright even if everything is fucked because everything is fucked anyway and we can be thoroughly fucked together” smile. Dave always loved that smile. Turns out kankri didn’t mind it either, offering a small, wobbly smile back, the red now imminent on his cheeks. With a final effort to make things right, he let a small genuine chuckle slip past his lips. 

“sorry about that kan, thought I was dreaming, then again you are too good to be true” he said with a mock two guns and a wink. Kankri giggled, small and muffled but it was recognisably z giggle that made dirks heart flutter, god he hated it when that happened. Kankri peaked his head out from the blankets and looked dirk over, still burning his face somewhat into the folds of the fabric, the small smile on his face practically warming the room and made dirk feel like he was falling, but that was an everyday occurrence now, no Biggy. He wanted that smile to last forever, it was almost heartbreaking when he saw it fade again, kankri turned away from dirk, like he couldn’t bare to look at him anymore, his eyes shinier than normal, watery, like he was about to cry, but he wouldn’t, not in front of him, never in front of him. 

Kankri rolled back into a sleeping position, untangling himself from the blanket and offering dirk some. Dirk didn’t show it on his face but he wanted more than anything to see kankri’s face right now. He knows he can’t, but he wanted so badly to see that smile again. “I think it’s time that we go to bed now I’m sorry for waking you” dirk breathed in a long painful breath and relaxed, lying back down into the mattress. He was almost ready to try sleeping again when he felt the mattress dip ever so slightly as kanri rolled over to face dirk, dirk did he same, relishing in those blood red eyes that he felt like he was swimming in. “dirk?”, his voice small and shaky, again like he wanted to cry. 

“yeah kan?”

“if you wanted to sleep in my bed, you could have just said so….I wouldn’t have objected”. There was a little frown on his face when he said that but dirk took it as a good sign, smiling ever so slightly at the cute pout forming on the trolls’ lips. 

“gotcha kan, sorry about that” 

Kankri didn’t answer him, just fumbling for the words that he couldn’t quite grasp, looking down, than back at dirk, then down again before he finally built up the courage to stare back into his eyes, sucking in a dee comforting breath and exhaling. Maybe dirk really was dreaming, there was no way that this was real, his eyes smoothing over kankris features as the little troll scooched over to dirks side, craning his head up and pecking dirks forehead. A split-second kiss to nowhere special and dirk felt like his heart was about to call quits and go boom. The blood rushing to his cheeks and kankri simply reattracted, burning his face back into dirks chest and curling into the strong man’s arms. Purring ever so slightly into dirks torso. “thank you” he managed to hear over the rumbling sound in kankris throat, causing his muscles to almost vibrate, but he wasn’t even sure if he heard that right, his eyes already giving into the exhaustion and eventually, giving in completely, sinking shut as he felt the warmth wrap around his heart and fill his senses, there was no way this was all real, this was all a dream. Wasn’t it?


	8. was it a dream?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I got really bored in class by the way, just read the thing, excuse all....everything...haha...whoops...sorry guys

Ok no, but seriously, was it?! Dirk woke up the next morning troll less. The emptiness of the bed felt gaping and awful. Maybe it actually was a dream, he told himself as he rubbed at the last remaining sleep in his eyes, slipping himself off the edge of the bed until he felt the icy cold of the floorboards hit the soles of his feet, sending a shiver all the way up through his legs to his back. He groaned, don’t worry dirk, I fucking hate mornings too. 

He walked across the house, opening up the door to the outside to get a good glimpse of his surroundings, their entire house seemingly engulfed in forest only saved by the far left with nothing but vast fields. It was a nice thing to wake up to everyday, it was nice, everything a man could have wanted. Somewhere deep inside the house he heard Dave emerging from his room, followed by the sugar rush voice of john. Somewhere far off in the depths of daves room he heard the mild grumbles and annoyed growling of kankris little brother, that always made his morning. You know what else makes your morning dirk? Apparently getting screamed at by a terrified looking jane. Great, fan-fucking-tastic, you know what, no, this might actually be serious. Tears were streaming down her face, her eyes rimmed red from crying as she ran as fast as she could up to the house. 

Dirk didn’t waste any time once he saw her distressed state, jumping swiftly over the railing of the deck and running to her, catching her in his arms and holding her tight. She couldn’t quite form words yet, her constant babbling echoing in his ears as he tried to decipher exactly what she was saying. It was a long time before she was able to calm her breathing, sucking in deep lung fulls of air, desperately trying to stop the shaking in her shoulders and hands as she looked up into dirks shaded eyes, familiar pointy goggles giving her a sense of safety. Her bottom lip quivered uncontrollably but she steadied her voice. 

“r-roxy! Roxy is in trouble! He’s strong! Way too strong for her! Hurry up!” and with that she started racing back down the hill, dirk took off after her, trying to get as much information he can out of her on the way but failed at getting anything substantial, the only thing he managed to find is that it was a troll, probably as large as roxy but that was about all and from the sound of it, pretty terrifying. 

They reached a small clearing, which probably wasn’t a small clearing when jane left it but whatever, in the distance he could hear the sound of crashing trees and a high-pitched scream that grated on his ears and flipped his stomach in loops. They picked up the pace, running as fast as their legs would carry them through the trees, past the devastation until they saw the soft bounce of roxy’s blonde hair, curling in and out as she jumped out of the way of whatever just took a swing at her. Jane wasn’t kidding. 

The troll was bigger than he thought but not bigger than him, pitch black curly hair, the grey troll skin, yellow and purple eyes that wee piercing behind his drooped eye lids, a sharp toothed smile stretching across his face, lathered in cracked clown paint, peeling in great clumps off his face as it swirled in with roxy’s blood that had sprayed menacingly across his cheeks, laying in perfect contrast with the purple liquid that spilled from the three prominent scars slashed across his face. The troll howled, deep and left his ears ringing in pain, roxy’s hands dashing to cover her own ears, missing that club that swung down right onto her exposed ribs. 

There was a sickening crack, the sound of bone meeting rock and the blood curdling screams of his best friend as she crumpled onto the floor. Holding herself together by the thin thread of her will, her face contorted in unimaginable pain. The troll threw back his head, letting slip a bone chilling chuckle that sook dirk right to his core, reverberating in between the deep dark woods that surrounded them. He stepped forward, raising the club up over his head, one step, two step, moving agonisingly close toward roxy’s pathetic form as she reached in vain for her gun that she had dropped when she jumped out of the way, the sickening creak of her ribs could be heard from where dirk was standing as things finally began to snap in place. Not another second past before dirk was in front of the troll, thrusting the sword forward, wedging them right in the monster’s ribs, the snapping like twigs breaking inside his chest and the familiar purple liquid spurted out from the wound. 

The troll stopped, his eyes widening impossible large as he looked down at the sword piercing his torso, the blade now dripping with his blood as he reeled back in shock. His foul purple covered mouth opening as if to scream, revealing the sharpened teeth stained yellow and black. The howl that followed made dirk take a step back, his knees feeling as if they could give in at any second now, shaking uncontrollably until the troll couldn’t hold it any longer and the howl turned into small whimpers of pain, a low growl rumbling in his throat menacingly as he took a hold of the blade. 

Dirk let go, moving to roxys side and slinging her over his shoulders, her eyes dropping as she fell unconscious. Jane screamed at dirk to run or duck, he didn’t quite get it as his own sword was hurled dangerously close to his head. His eyes darting back to the troll behind him, its eyes widening in what looked like fear as it swung madly at him again, baring its teeth, screaming like a wounded animal as he narrowly dodged one of the clubs that the creature swung his way. 

Well, fuck that shit. 

Dirk took off, jane leading ahead of him, nearly flying threw the trees, passing the clearing with ease but they wouldn’t stop. Not with the crashing sounds behind them becoming threateningly closer as they opened out into the clearing. Hearing the last tree blow to splinters behind them and crash helplessly to the forest floor. They could still hear the pounding foot steps behind them as loudly as they heard their own thumping hearts. The house began to come into view, the small figures of kankri and boys looking out onto the plain, they must have heard them fighting, he thought to himself, now the imminent fear that one of the boys would get hurt if they moved any closer to the house. 

His heart began to thump harder and faster, ringing in his ears, enveloping his senses so he was unable to hear the pounding of feet behind him grind to a stop, to stand still. With one great effort, he hauled roxy’s limp body onto janes shoulders and swung around, preparing himself to fight but was met with the monster, a few yards away. Looking up almost mesmerised at the house, his nostrils flaring like he was sniffing the air. Eyes widened, pupils dilated. 

It was extraordinary, it was like nothing else existed but that house, the troll’s muscles softening, his mouth falling open lazily, the soft rumbling in his chest ceasing as he began to melt into the appearance of a frightened kitten. Dirk barely registered the pattering of footsteps coming closer behind him but he did notice the swirling of the cloak that flashed in front of his eyes before kankri had wrapped the murderous troll in his arms. 

And that was all it took. Almost as if the troll had melted into a harmless puddle it turned limp in kankris grasp.


	9. gamzee makara

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gamzees moods confuse even me so don't ask, hes pretty adorable though :)

It took dirk a little while to get accustomed to the troll that had hours ago nearly turned his best friend into a bleeding pile of pulp sitting in his living room but hey, wouldn’t be the weirdest things that’s ever happened in his life. 

Roxy sat off to the side, her wife patching her up and wrapping her crippled ribs to allow some of the strain to be taken off as Roxy drank herself threw her third bottle of rum. Yeah sure she said it was to relieve the pain, meant she was in pain all the time I guess. This was a normal occurrence, weather in a fight or at home she always managed to hurt herself and jane, Gog bless her had to clean her up, she didn’t seem to mind though, dirk thought it was a little endearing. Kankri however, kankris entire presence was new, everything about him was new, but this, this was a whole other ball game. 

He watched as kankri walked back into the room, carrying some hot water and more bandagers for all three of them. The murderous troll didn’t take his eyes off of him for a second, his eye’s looking almost fully dilated as he scanned the smaller troll up and down, this troll was making dirk uncomfortable but what else was new. Karkat followed along behind him wrapping himself in a little blanket that Dave used as a cape. Speaking of Dave, dirk didn’t actually know where the fuck he went, he mumbled something about him and john but he hadn’t caught where they were going. They’d be fine, they had each other, he hoped to himself silently, eyeing off the psychopath who now directed his gaze on karkat who gave him the finger. Bless him. 

It felt like hours of that thick silence, the only sound was the small clinking and sound of bandages as they wrapped each other up, the occasional whimper of pain or the groaning annoyed tone of Roxy when she realised her bottle was empty. To everyone’s astonishment, it was the troll who spoke first. 

“who the mother fuck are you little bro” he rasped, his voice sounding lazy and like it hadn’t been used in a long time. Karkat backed off slightly from the window looking just as annoyed as he always is. 

“MIND YOUR OWN FUCKING BUSINESS ASSHOLE” he said elegantly. 

The troll’s ears folded behind his head. He looked… guilty… hurt even, but his eyes were still soft and his muscles still relaxed as he looked up at the older brother, smiling a toothy, bone chilling grin that seemed almost as drunk as Roxy… almost. “you smell mother fucking wonderful bro. like mother fucking sweet that’s what you are…” he cooed, dazed and confused and kankri, to dirks amazement, smiled down at him, ringing out the cloth that he had and placing it on the scars marking his face. The troll hissed in pain and clung to the cushions till everyone thought they would rip. 

“where did you get these scars? They don’t look like they could have been made by anything that I know of… or maybe… no, no I don’t think they would have…” kankri seemed to hesitate for a second, looking down at the purple blood that stained his fingers and he winced pathetically. “your name? pardon my curiosity but it wouldn’t happen to be Makara, would it?” 

The trolls smiled flickers dangerously but it held thankfully as he looked back at kankri, a certain sadness rolling around in his eyes. “yeah, that’s mother fucking me alright, Gamzee Makara, how’d you motherfucking know?”. 

Kankri stiffened, his eyes now covered by his fringe as tough he was in thought and he could have sworn, that everyone in that room held their breath. “I-….” he began in a soft, almost unrecognisable voice. “i… knew kurloz….”

Yeah that didn’t make a lot of sense to anyone human in the room, or indeed karkat but “gamzee” seemed to reel back at this knowledge, like he’d been hit by a sledge hammer and he grabbed onto kankris shirt, pulling him in till his face was placed right at the crook of kankris neck. Dirk jumped up, grabbing the closest sharp object he could find and froze as those purple eyes pierced wholes into his confidents. Kankri had his eyes shut, stubbornly trying to keep his breathing level as he felt gamzee take a deep sniff of his scent. His hands clenched into fists as he waited, for what no one knew, but everyone was sure it was to get his throat ripped out. 

Everything seemed to stand stock still, not a sound was made. No one even seemed to breath for the longest period of time, everyone just stood, hands poised at weapons, staring intently at gamzees every move it was almost a chain reaction when gamzee opened his mouth, the yellowed sharp teeth glinting in the light. Dirk thought he was going to stab him as he sunk his teeth into the small troll’s neck, allowing a small yelp and for kankris body to fall as if into a limp rag doll. Launching himself at gamzee he almost sliced the knife right into its fucking neck before it moved aside, grabbing him by the wrist and threatening to break it with the strength of its grip. At this point kankri was seeing red and so was the troll, staring at each other with the cold energy of death himself (had he not been preoccupied with cheap food at a diner somewhere, deans on a hot date with dean). Dirk felt a warm hand touch his chest and his muscles jerked in shock, looking down at the large red eyes staring up at him as he was locked in gamzees grip. He held a finger to his lips as his hands snaked up to wrap gamzee in a tight embrace. Carding his fingers through its thick black hair and making soft shushing sounds that was lulling that angered troll to sleep. 

karkat watched in awe as all of this unfolded before him. His brother, his piss weak brother was actually being gripped by the talons of a monster that had rendered Roxy useless and he showed no sign of fear, he simply went on calming the beast, leading it into a sense of security as its eyes dropped to a dream like state and released dirks wrist, dirk, in relief, jumping about a mile away from the monster in the manliest position you could ever imagine. 

Kankri looked over at the shocked audience, waiting until gamzee was practically swaying his head, like he was really fuckin high before he detangled himself from his claws, laying the relaxed troll down on the couch so he could stare at his own hands, mesmerised by them. Kankri smiled down at the troll and gamzee smiled back closing his eyes, ready for sleep before he said. “big bro is looking for you”. His eyes shut completely and his breath deepened rolling over and relaxing into the cushions as he dreamed of soft smells, warm hearts and the biggest red eyes you’ve ever seen. 

Dirk walked over to kankris side, glimpsing down at gamzee as he chuckled to himself in his sleep, making inaudible honking sounds as he did, making karkat giggle ever so slightly. He took the troll to where Roxy and jane were recovering from heart attacks and he sat with them, seeming as though he was deep in his own head.   
“well that was fucking weird”


	10. brothers forever

Kankri was sitting outside, playing with a little blade of grass as he thought to himself, his own voice echoing in his head. 

It’s our fault, isn’t it?

We got dirk hurt.

We almost got Roxy killed.

We shouldn’t stay here. 

This is never going to end. 

It’s never going to end until they get us. 

It’s inevitable then. 

It’s the only way. 

It’s the only way. 

It’s the only way. 

It’s the only way. 

Kankri hadn’t noticed that he was digging his nails into his palm until his own blood dripped onto the grass, staining it was a bright, horrible colour. Threw instinct he hurriedly wrapped it up so no one could see, his eyes staring deep into that hateful colour and how much pain it had caused everyone. 

How can blood be so painful? 

Kankri hadn’t even noticed the figure walking toward him. It stopped just as the covered his wound, tilting its head to the side curiously before kneeling down, its hand touching him lightly on the back. 

Kankri nearly flipped out of his skin. If he was a cat he would be all poofy but he wasn’t. (unfortunately) his ears pricked to an alert stance. 

Karkat stood over him, eye brows in his signature “you can go fucking die” expression. He crouched down next to his brother, inspecting the red grass below him. “HEY…” 

“uuuuh…hello karkat, is there something I can help you with? Is there something that troubling you”? Kankri sat down next to karkat, staring at the blood next to him and frowning deeply before looking back at karkats contemplative face. 

Karkat didn’t look at his brother, his eyes fixated on the patch of grass ahead of him, stained bright red. “THE TROLL…. GAMZEE…. HES…. HES BEEN……” karkat didn’t look like he was paying attention to anything, his finger reaching out to touch the blotted grass, his eyes blurring as if we was in another world all together. “GAMZEE’S BEEN SAYING THINGS ABOUT YOU…AND A GUY CALLED KURLOZ….DO YOU KNOW HIM?” 

Kankri relaxed into the grass, looking deep into karkats watery eyes. “yes, I knew him, he was an old friend of mine” the sky above them began to turn dark and ominous looking clouds rolled in from the bays toward them. 

“I THOUGHT YOU DIDN’T HAVE ANY FRIENDS” 

Kankris nose crinkled and he sniffed annoyed at the accusation before his memories got the better of him and he felt that familiar sadness wash over himself. “i-I did have friends… kurloz was one of them, so is porrim”. Kankri looked down at his own hands, not realising that karkat was now looking at him, not turning his head but moving his eyes to look at him, the annoyed, grumpy expression still plain on his face. 

“PORRIM AND KURLOZ HUH?” he said quietly to himself, well, as quietly as he does, which is normal speaking for everyone else. 

“that’s right, porrim, kurloz and- “he cut himself off there, biting his lip until it turned red, a flicker of concern swimming in karkats eye as he looked at the distressed look of his brother. 

“…AND CRONUS?” 

Kankri jumped again, the hairs on the back of his neck raising and sending shivers up and down his spine, his breaths came at shaky as he tried to calm his beating heart, painfully aware of his fists clenching into the dirt around him. “karkat…. where did you hear that name?” 

Karkat sighed, shuffling over and curling in at his brother’s side, tucking his head under his chin, “YOU SLEEP TALK, ITS FUCKING ANNOYING, I DON’T WANT TO HEAR YOU MOAN SOME BULGE SUCKING STRANGERS NAME OVER AND OVER AGAIN”. He said nonchalantly, looking up at kankris face to see his eyes widened in horror. “SO WHO IS THE FUCKER? ILL BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF HIM”. 

Kankri could get the words out, his tongue feeling too thick in his throat to even get oxygen into his lungs. He felt awful, like something slimy was wrapping itself around his stomach and flipping it in circles. “h-he……”, he sucked in a deep breath, his heart beating tenfold in his ears and he felt like throwing up, “we were a friend of mine…a close friend… he was like a brother to me though he was a little strange I suppose…” he faked a smile, beaming down at the little troll, frowning in his lap, wincing slightly at the clap of thunder that cracked in his ears. 

Karkat didn’t look satisfied with that answer, scrunching his nose at kankri and nuzzling his neck, pulling their faces so close they could hear each other breath. 

“WHAT DID HE DO?” 

“he didn’t do anything karkat- “

“WHAT DID HE DO?”

Kankri froze, he hadn’t noticed that tears until he felt karkat wipe them away, small, clawed hands moving up to sweep them off his cheeks. With one last glance to the blood on the grass. He took another deep breath in. closing his eyes to remember that day. That day when nothing was the same. The day he almost lost everything. 

“He discovered Kankri, and he hated it”.


	11. big boy makaras coming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> meenahs setting kurloz on kankri after they learn about gamzee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys, I'm really glad that you're still reading, its really nice of you. I cant actually fathom why you are. its really bad, like really bad, character development is sit, the story hardly makes sense and I seem to just change plot points and details for convenience which, lets face it, is a dick move. I appreciate it I just don't understand why, it doesn't even have any sex yet.   
> love all of you, you're the best people in the world.

Cronus crashed through the doors of the room, his eyes full of something akin to fear, the adrenaline pumping in his veins. Was sitting fittingly on her throne, looking up at the skeletal figure that towered over her. She looked past its shoulder to see Cronus, panting and wide eyed as he looked at their countries leading general. Kurloz Makara. 

He was a monster, tall and bony. His eyes were empty of life, glazed over with purple as he looked over Cronus coldly, a smile stretching from ear to ear that could have killed a puppy at first glance. His face paint was cleaned of all the blood Cronus always sees him in, stained rainbow in the blood of his enemies, so alike to his father as the room became emptier with his presence. Meenah beckoned him in, ordering him to stand next to that thing, that thing that wasn’t troll anymore. It wasn’t anything. 

He stepped next to him, breathing in the smell of death and decay and wanting to rip out his own knows so that he didn’t have to be there. But he had to, he could tell from the serious look in Meenah’s eyes as she looked them both over, flicking her hand for the servants still standing in the room, shaking in their boots to leave them alone. They practically ran out, their legs not moving as fast as they would have hoped as they evacuated the room leaving them together in a choking tension you couldn’t have cut through with a knife. Meenah’s eyes focused on him and his breath hitched, standing with his back as straight as it could possibly be. 

“any news of his whereabouts” her voice boomed off the walls. 

Cronus narrowed his eyes at the thing standing next to him, expectantly, its tongue lashing out to lap at its lips. Cronus pulled out a document and handed it to Meenah which she looked over with interest, darting her eyes from the two men in front of her to the document in her hands. “kurloz?” she finally began. 

Kurloz stepped forward and bowed his head, a mocking smile plastered across those vile lips, “yes your highness”. He whispered, the words dripping past his lips like poison. 

“is it true that your brother, gamzee, ran away?”

“yes, your highness” 

“and is it true that he ran in the direction of the human kingdom?”

“yes, your highness”

“are you aware…” she paused for affect, licking at her dried lips, “that he is now in the custody of the mutant?”

Kurloz looked up from his spot on the ground, those lifeless eyes and those curled lips never changing as they looked directly at her with a stare that cud have wilted any plant. “I was not aware”. 

Meenah looked down at the juggalo bowing his head for her and sniffed in disapproval, throwing the document that Cronus had just given to her. A picture slipped out of its bindings, falling to the floor to which kurloz scooped it up, staring intently at its content. 

In that image was his brother, gamzee, his face slashed open by his own claw was now patched and cleaned, his face paint missing for now, a sickening blissful expression on his face as he buried his head into the curled black hair of an annoyed looking troll, half the size of him at least. The troll was smaller than any regular troll he’d seen, a book laying in his lap and his big bushy eye brows furrowing at the affectionate troll holding him tight to his chest, it was disgusting, it was disgusting how accurate it was, reminding him of the time he used to do that to kankri, reminding him of his better days, his better days with him but he banished those memories from his head as he looked into those big, crimson eyes. 

his ears vaguely registered the sound of crumpling, ripping paper as the photo disappears into his hand, the memory crushing in between his fingertips whilst he tried to destroy every last shred of those memories. 

Cronus stood next to him silently, looking down at the paper as it dropped to the floor. A small pang in his chest causing him to cough ever so slightly, the sound throwing kurloz back into reality to look up at her elegance, standing directly in front of him, he towering over her but her eyes were stone cold as she looked up at him, her very presence was something threatening. 

The grin never faltered from his face, with a small nod he walked out of the room and the atmosphere felt like it was able to breathe again. Cronus sighed, looking as the doors slammed behind him, the last images of the lanky figure disappearing behind that large steel of those doors and he registered the huffing of Meenah as she sat back in her thrown, an annoyed expression clouding her features as she looked anywhere but Cronus, tapping her finger on her arm rest impatiently. 

Cronus bowed his head, looking down at the floor, dropping to one knee at her feet and he eyes swept over to him, investigating the new position that they seemed to be in. 

“let me go”

“let me go……”

He sighed again, “let me go, your highness”

“and why would I do that fish bait?”

“because…. because I want to talk to him, please, your highness, I won’t disappoint you” 

She rolled her eyes, batting her eye lashes at nothing in particular as she reached out to a cabinet on her left, pulling you a small piece of parchment and thrusting it in Cronus’s face, huffing again as he looked at her quizzically. 

“take it” she scowled, waving it at him, batting his nose with it, “give it to him, you have four days before kurloz gets there, and I’m not calling him off”. Her voice became low with malice but he ignored it, taking the parchment from her hand and nodding, turning his back on the empress in question as she sunk back into her chair. 

Her lips formed a childish point, slumping her back into the chair and looking at the ceiling “shellfish mum” she groaned to herself, thinking back to her mum, which she hardly knew, but that didn’t matter. “I wonder water aranea’s dofin.”.


	12. cuddles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gemzee takes a liking to karkat which dave does not like one bit

Gamzee purred like a kitten, face hidden between karkats shoulder blades, trying his best to catch a glimpse of the romance novel that karkat had lying in his lap, grumbling every now and again and cursing at the stupidity from some of the characters. Gamzee hummed in content, nuzzling even further into his back and karkat stiffened, turning the page and ignoring the taller troll affectionately rubbing his nose into his cloak. 

Gamzee hummed to a song, his eyes fluttering up and down, snaking his face up to look over karkats shoulder, seeing the confusing language that he couldn’t read, he couldn’t read at all, what was he talking about, and groaning loudly. “bro….broooo….broooooooooo….nubby broooooooooooo…nubs….nibbles….knuckles…kn-“

Karkat slammed the book shut in annoyance and spun around to the troll he was sitting in the lap of, finding it hard to manoeuvre so he could see the older troll’s arms tightly clasping his waist. “WHAT DO YOU WANT ASSCLOWN?”

Gamzee smiled a stoned, lazy smile and nuzzled his nose against karkats, “whats your name little bro?”

“AS IF IM FUCKING TELLING YOU, IDIOT” rolling his ruby eyes and settling back into gamzee’s lap, painfully aware of the eyes that had been staring at them for the past hour. Gamzee grumbled again and karkat sighed in pain, turning around again, watching as gamzee gave him his best version of the puppy eyes. “UGH! KARKAT! ITD FUCKING KARKAT! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?”

Gamzee’s face broke out into a smile and he held onto karkat tighter, “motherfucking miraculous…”

Karkat groaned and settled back into the taller troll, not paying attention to the way the gamzee slowly trailed his hands along his stomach, even as he slowly let go with one hand, his head rising to tuck karkat under his chin. No, it was hours of this already, hours he told you, it only matters now when gamzee rubbed up against one of karkats horns and he almost dropped the book. 

“AH! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOURE DOING!” he said, resisting the urge to hit gamzee right in his stupid, drunken face. 

Gamzee didn’t seem to notice, pecking lightly at karkats nubs once more, making the small troll shudder. “shoosh, relax karkat bro, this motherfucker is just tryin to all up and make you feel better…” he said, nuzzling against the horn again and karkat tried to wriggle out of his lap. The pair of eyes karkat had sense before was contemplating moving forward now. 

Karkat couldn’t resist the urge to moan any more, his eyes starting to fill with tears and his body was suddenly wrenched from gamzees grip, the taller troll growled lowly, menacingly, looking up at dirks shaded eyes, his eyes trailing to the little blonde standing in front of him, reaching for the karkat that was punching and kicking in dirks hands. 

“what do you motherfucking want, motherfucker…”

His voice was low, like a lion roar, seemingly piercing through to your lungs and knocking the wind out of you. 

Dirk handed karkat down to dave which wrapped the little troll in a hug and ran out of the room, karkat almost reluctantly leaving and gamzees mood changed very dramatically, his eyes filling with rage at the lack of the red blood and reaching out to claw at dirk who dodged effortlessly. “karkat needs to sleep some time, let the kid eat… you might want to do the same…” 

Gamzee watched him sceptically, not taking his eyes off of the blonde until he exited the room. 

He slumped back onto the couch, muscles tensed and annoyed, growling and groaning, hissing as he gingerly touched the scars slashed across his face. He shivered, thinking of his brother that could be hunting them down at this very second and he flopped onto his stomach. Was it worth it leaving? Would it do much? He looked at the door again and sighed, “he couldn’t take karkat or kankri, it wouldn’t even matter if he did or didn’t. kurloz was out to kill them, there was no hope anymore and he groaned again. 

He touched his scar again, the pain resonating in his head and his eyes fluttered shut, lulling himself into a nightmare filled sleep. Full of clowns, bloodied clowns, clubs and pain, claws scratching at his face, the smell of that horrid drug and the terrified eyes of a red-blooded mutant looking up at him with hope and loyalty.


	13. purple rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> cronus comes to visit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so um, i actually meant to post this like, what, at the start of this year but i completely forgot it existsesd. my writings gottten a lot worse. im not high i swear. im sleepy

The moonlight streamed in through the window, hitting the grey skin of kankris faced as he stroked the demon like trolls tangled curls, watching as he convulsed in pain, his muscles tensing and relaxing as he twisted and shouted, the ager disappearing from his growls to turn into whimpers every time kankri brushed his skin. He winced in pain when gamzees claws dug into his thigh, drawing just the slightest bit of blood and gamzee calmed, his eye brows unfurrowing and his face drawing on a sense of calm. 

Kankri didn’t notice when a dark figure had walked into the room until he felt a hand touch his back and he jumped, disturbing gamzee who held onto kankri tighter and he calmed his heart beat, turning around to look at the figure with a frown, assuming that it was dirk he lowering his voice so that gamzee wouldn’t be woken. “give me more warning before you decide to jump me next time, I could have woken gamzee and I don’t think you are him would have appreciated that. Shouldn’t you be resting yourself right now? You haven’t been sleeping well for the last couple of days come to think of it. Oh, well, you’ll ask for help if you need it I’m sure, is there anything that you wanted to discuss or did you simply think it would be funny for me to jump out of my own skin?”

“Dirk” couldn’t help but smirk a little, gesturing for kankri to move away from gamzee and follow him as he walked outside. Kankri gave him a confused look, glancing back at gamzees sleeping face one last time before uncurling the high bloods claws so he could slide out, whimpering ever so slightly at the sharp stab of pain in his thigh but he refused to acknowledge it, tip toeing to where he had seen “dirk” move to, he walked past the bedrooms on his way, making sure that everyone was also in bed, smiling at the pile of blankets he knew that contained karkat, john and dave. 

His heart froze, hearing the familiar calmed breathing from dirks room, he moved as quickly as he could, pulling back the curtain to reveal the large blonde man sleeping peacefully in his bed and kankris blood ran cold. Running outside with a sense of dread. His fears realised. 

The moonlight hit the figures face, the outlines illuminating his cheek bones, grey skin, horns, gills and his purple eyes rested on the mutant. Kankris body ached, his breath hitched, his mind resisting the painful urge in every part of his body to turn and run. 

Cronus walked further into the field and kankri willed himself to move forward, watching as the smoke rose from the cigarette in cronus’s hand. Kankris legs moved forward without him thinking about it now, his breath drowning in his ears to the point when he didn’t notice cronus stop and he rammed into the back of the sea dweller, tumbling back and rubbing at his nose. “my apologies” he said, the sound of cronus chuckling in front of him sending powerful surges of annoyance down his spine. 

Kankri bit his lip, looking up into cronus’s purple eyes and the instant feeling of nausea set in his stomach once more. “cronus…”

The sea dweller hummed in acknowledgment, taking another drag of his cigarette before crushing the flames under his foot and looked up at the mutant sheepishly. “long time no see kan”

“why are you here cronus?” he said, opting to not point out the demeaning nick name. 

“no foolin around huh? No time to catch up or nothin?”

Kankri growled a warning, crossing his arms over his chest and trying to ignore the sinking feeling he had in the pit of his stomach. Cronus simply shot him the puppy eyes, ineffectively but at least he tried. 

“c’mon kan? Nothin? Not a “high how are you”, “missed you”? who did you think I was anyway?” he said curiously, bending down so that it didn’t look like he was looming over kankri so much even if the red blood seemed unfazed weather he did or didn’t. 

“I thought you were dirk, now why are you here?”

“dirk? The fuck is a “dirk”?”

“he is a person cronus. A very nice person too. Please stop avoiding the question. Why are you here?” he paused, the stone in his stomach seeming to grow heavier, “are you here to kill us”

“what!? No, no way kan! I just… ya know….” Cronus looked down at his feet, rubbing the back of his head nervously. 

Kankri huffed a sigh titling cronus’s chin up. “you never really changed” he managed to say, looking cronus’s uniform up and down, “not much at least, have you become a general? A lord? I can’t quite tell”

He chuckled nervously, unable to look away from kankri, “a little bit of both actually, no Biggy, you should see Meenah, man is she a piece of work. You think she bossed around before, man, I’m practically her bitch now”. Kankri frowned at the vulgar language but was used to it now, releasing cronus’s face and taking a step back. His question still standing. And cronus cleared his throat. 

“actually…she’s the reason him here, I need to… I need to take you with me. If you come with me quietly no one dies, I swear, we won’t touch a hair on anyone’s head, not one cross my heart and hope to die”. 

“and why am I coming with you exactly?”

“because… because… well… because- “

“because I’m a mutant? Right? Or as you so delicately put, an “abomination”, that is the reason I must come with you is it not?” his finger taping on his arm impatiently. 

“… you didn’t have to say it like that…” his eyes roaming back to his feet, ashamed and hurting, “look kan, I’m sorry, I’m sorry for everything! I didn’t mean to say all those things! I didn’t mean to tell anyone else…” 

“but you did, you told everyone cronus. That isn’t even the worst part, it’s that you told serket. Serket of all people. Do you know that you weren’t the only one who knew? Rufioh knew, porrim knew, mituna knew, I’m sure that kurloz had suspicions but you had to tell her. You knew what she would do if she found out. Did you care? Did you care that I had a brother to look after all of this? He lives in fear now. He lives in fear of dying every day, that he’ll be discovered. Did you care when you told her? Did you care about any of that?” his voice rose just a little and he felt his throat sting with the need to cry but he held back, staring a shocked cronus down. 

“well did you?”

“I… I…” he stuttered, his eyes wide with shock, “I… of course I did! I cared! I just… I over reacted, I’m so sorry kan, I really am, but I can’t go back from here, there’s nothing I can do now, im sorry. This is best for everyone”. 

He took a step forward and kankri didn’t move. Cronus took that as a sign to move closer but was stopped by kankri’s words. “what will happen to my brother if I go with you?”

“…i…ugh….i don’t know”

“well find out” he said one last time before walking back toward the house, pulled back as cronus instinctively grabbed his arms and pulled it back. 

“I- “he began. His nose twitching as if he caught something sent and he crouched low in an attack position, his eyes focusing on a dark figure standing not too far away from them. The grin spread across their face amused, eyes wide almost psychotically as it oved forward. 

Cronus jumped just in time. The figure lunging forward and within an instant, swinging down onto the sea dweller with a force that could have crushed all his bones. Cronus leapt to safety, dropping down into a crouch again as he swung the heavy gun on his back into action, pointing it directly at gamzees head. Gamzee looked like he was going to rip the skull right out of cronus’s head. The crazed eyes causing cronus to hesitate for just the right amount of time, allowing gamzee to ram is fist right into cronus’s face. Grabbing the sea dwellers head in-between his arms and readied himself to snap the fuckers neck right back into the underworld. 

Gamzees body tensed at the touch of kankris hand on his shoulder and he swung around, anger filled eyes seeming to stare right into kankris core but he didn’t flinch, he didn’t need to as he heard karkat run down the hill, screaming kankris name with dave in tow and he instantly stood between cronus and his brother. 

There was a cry behind him and he looked around just in time to see gamzee whimpering on the floor, a harpoon piercing through his leg, indigo blood splashing all over the grass around him and cronus standing over his body, panting hard, aiming his next shot at gamzees head. 

Kankri didn’t even think when he moved, his arm wrapping around cronus’s neck until he cut off the air flow, watching as the man under him crumpled, struggle to get air into his lungs and his eyes fluttering up and down before they closed completely and kankri let him fall to the ground, being sure to check that the man was still alive before moving over to gamzee who was whimpering on the ground, slashing at the air and clipping kankris cheek as he tried to calm him. 

Dave and karkat came rushing down the hill, tripping over themselves as they did to see an unconscious sea dweller and a wounded juggalo hauled over kankris shoulder. 

“get cronus please.”

Karkat looked at cronus, his eyes widened and he spat, gesturing for dave to help him as he threw one of cronus’s arms over his shoulder and began dragging the body back to the house. 

It was going to be another long night, he thought to himself.


	14. dirk is a smooth motherfucker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dirk is smooth as fuck

Cronus woke up with a start, fling his arm to punch at the figure standing over him just for it to be caught effortlessly and folded safely against his chest again. The adrenaline pumping through his veins as he desperately tried to clear his vision, relaxing as the mutant came back into his line of sight. 

“kan? what happened?”

“gamzee attacked you and you hurt gamzee, so I stopped the fight” he said coolly, feeling if cronus had a fever. Cronus seemed to relax at kankris touch, closing his eyes slowly and lolling his head back, releasing a relieving sigh that felt like it had been brewing for years. 

Kankri rolled his eyes ever so slightly, turning to the side to see if anyone was in the hallway and seeing no one. 

“hey kan?”

The smaller troll snapped his eyes back to the sea dweller, earning a flinch at the cold stare he gave him. maybe he was being too hard. But then again, it had been a long time in the making. He thought to himself, steeling his resolve and giving cronus a smile, surprised that it was actually able to allow the sea dweller to relax just a little bit. “yes cronus?”

“I… “he seemed to stop, biting his lip and grabbing a hold of kankris hand, causing kankri to jump slightly. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry for everything! I really am! But you need to leave, right now, I don’t care what’s happening right now, I don’t care what any of this is! You need to run far away! As far as you can!”. He leaned in to kankri until there for heads were almost touching. 

“im not leaving cronus, not with karkat here, not when hes in danger. I wont go anywhere until I know hes safe” kankri crossed his arms over his chest, the cloak fluttering to a stop around him as he moved, locking Cronus in the fiery red stare. Cronus was on the brink of tears as he tried to grip Kankri, the slighter troll not even flinching. 

“they’ll kill you”

“they will.” 

“are you just going to let that happen!?”   
“no, I will fight, they can kill me for my blood, they can kill me for the person I am, who’s I am but they won’t kill karkat, they won’t kill him” 

Cronus couldn’t say anything, he didn’t want to say anything as he hung his head in shame, desperately trying to keep his arms at his side as the urge to hold the smaller troll rose fiercely. Sensing that the conversation was over kankri moved away from cronus, setting the seadweller back down on the bed and was surprised to see cronus smiling a little at the troll, just as softly as he used to. “so, who’s dirk” the darkness in his eyes was barely noticeable but his voice portrayed all his envy. 

“dirk is a friend” he said, his face a completely normal colour, not like a cherry at all he swears. 

Cronus sighed and had to look away from kankri for a moment. “just a friend?” 

“yes cronus, he is just a friend, a completely platonic mutual relationship based off of two people benefitting without flush feelings of any kind.” 

“yeah yeah whatever kan, can you tell him to stop ease dropping on us” 

There was a loud dignified crash behind them and seconds later, dirk came a little sheepishly from out of the corner. 

“…”

“…”

“bad time?" 

smooth dirk 

real smooth.


End file.
